ORLANDO CHAPTER, NSDAR

Carrie Packard Schuller was the Orlando Chapter Organizing Regent, along with 12 organizing members. Mrs. Schuller was the 1909-1911 DAR Florida State Vice Regent and a member of the NSDAR National Officer's Association. The Orlando Art Association was formed largely through her effort. Other early members were Real Daughter Mrs. Granger, an honorary member of the chapter until her death in 1917, and Emilie J. Temple, who was a charter member and one of Orlando's most influential citizens in that era.

On March 30, 1924, Orlando Chapter placed a granite tablet on the site of Fort Gatlin. Fort Gatlin was built in 1838, one of a chain of forts extending from Sanford to Tampa, Florida. Present during the marking ceremony was 85 year old Martha Tyler, who at six years of age was once a refugee in the fort during the area's Indian fighting.

The original settlement of central Florida began with the building of Fort Gatlin in 1838 on the north shore of Lake Gatlin, about two miles south of what is now Orlando. After Fort Gatlin was abandoned in 1849, Aaron Jernigan's home and stockade became the nucleus of a new settlement. The first post office in the area was here, so the settlement officially became "Jernigan" in 1850. In 1857, B. F. Caldwell of Alabama, at the urging of local attorney James Speer, donated four acres in what is now downtown Orlando for a court house. This shifted the local government to the north and the town of Orlando built up around the courthouse. Orlando officially became a town in September 1857 when a post office was established.

Memorial High School on Armistice Day in 1924

On Armistice Day in 1924, the Orlando Chapter dedicated a large granite boulder in front of Memorial High School, to the memory of the Orange County residents who lost their lives in World War I.